The Incident on Oscar Street
by Trent Phoenix
Summary: Thanksgiving...as you've experienced only in your greatest nightmares! Kinda literally...
1. Chapter 1

**The Incident on Oscar Street**

At the edge of a quiet wood, the Commander stood watching a modest-sized town about half a mile away. A gentle breeze was sweeping the dead leaves around him, slightly chilly now that the late autumn afternoon was giving way to evening. Many of the trees had since lost their leaves, but a few still sported dazzling crowns of red and gold. The beauty of the moment, however, was lost on the Commander, who continued to watch the town, his stern face masking the anxiety gnawing at his heart. His mind had brought him back to the atrocity that had happened in that very town on a day not unlike this one. His clan had survived unscathed, but he had heard the reports, how his race had been decimated in one day. As he dwelt upon that nightmarish day, his resolve hardened and his face turn from stern to grim. Today, he told himself, today he would gain vengeance and send a message to those who would destroy his race.

Suddenly he was distracted by some movement near some bushes to his right. A moment later his lieutenant appeared and hastened over to meet him.

"Report!" barked the Commander.

"Sir, the scouts bring news of great fortune. On among their ranks has apparently separated himself from all others and is heading alone into a fairly isolated region. We should be able to intercept him without incident along his route. I have already given the men the order to move."

"Very good," the Commander said. "Remember, he is to be taken alive at all costs. He must make it to the base so that we can make an example of him."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant replied and took off running toward the town. The Commander watched him until he was no longer visible, then looked back toward the town, a malevolent grin slowly creeping onto his face. Tonight, he told himself. Tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Almost there...sure hope this is worth it_, Thomas thought as he turned and began to walk down the hill on the right-hand side of Oscar Street, astreet near downtown that was host to Max's Comics, the greatest, and only, comic book store in that little town. It was the day before Thanksgiving, which meant that Thomas had the day off from high school, and he was taking the opportunity to go visit Max's to check and see if they had the latest issue of his favorite comic, Zombiepocalypse; the Halloween episode had been nothing short of amazing, but it had left off on a cliffhanger, and Thomas was practically on tenterhooks to see how the November issue would play out. He walked about a block down the hill, putting him squarely in front of Max's Comics, and turned to the door to find the sign in front of the door: Max's Comics will be CLOSED today in observation of Thanksgiving. _Drat_, he thought, and kicked at the ground. He would have to wait until Friday, he guessed.

He turned away from the store front and began to walk back uphill, but then froze where he stood. About thirty feet ahead of him stood a large, majestic-looking wild turkey watching him. _Wow,_ he thought watching the turkey back, _I haven't seen a turkey like that this far into town before-_; his thoughts were cut short by the realization that the turkey was staring at him with an unusual intensity, almost...intelligently. As he noticed this, suddenly the turkey began to walk toward him purposefully. Thomas took a few steps back nervously, then turned around to walk down the hill, only to stop short again. Another turkey was down the hill about twenty feet, walking toward him with the same intense look, and he read maliciousness in the turkey's eyes. He turned his head to the left to look across the street, and he saw two more turkeys across the street walking toward him. He immediately spun facing across the road and backed into the great glass display window and put his fists up to meet them, trying desperately to hide the blind panic welling up inside him. As he did this, the turkeys charged, and his panic began to overcome him. He attempted a swing at one of the turkeys as they approached, but caught only thin air; a moment later, the turkeys were upon him, and he was trapped in a flurry of wings and bird-feet buffeting him. He flailed his arms to shake them off him, but to no avail; he was hemmed in by the turkeys, now too many of them for him to count or track. Strangely enough, he didn't feel any real pain as the turkeys beat him to the ground, only panic and the sensation of being drained of energy. A moment later darkness overcame his vision and he passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Thomas awoke to a dim orange-yellow glow in an unfamiliar place. The first thing he noticed was that he was face-down with his forehead to the ground; the next thing he noticed was that he was on his knees, bent over his legs with his hands firmly tied behind his back. He raised his head to look around at his surroundings; from what he could tell, he was in some sort of cave, and the glow appeared to be coming from a campfire some distance to his left. He attempted to speak, and that's when he noticed the apple placed in his mouth, apparently tied in place since he couldn't push it out of his mouth with his tongue and felt pressure at the back of his head when he tried. At that moment, panic began to set in again. _My God in Heaven_, he thought, _am I going to be...eaten?_ He then saw a shadow cross the floor and forced himself to look up; there, on a raised part of the rock floor, stood the turkeys.

The Commander stared for a moment at the terrified boy his unit has successfully captured, and though his face was as stern as ever, he was quite pleased with how his unit had handled the mission; the boy was captured alive, with minimal damage to him, and there had be no one around to interfere. He turned to a large, majestic-looking turkey next to him and said, "Well done, soldier. It pleases me that you were able to intercept and distract him while the rest of the team moved into position. You will be honored." The large turkey beamed and said, "Thank you, sir." The Commander then turned to his lieutenant and asked, "What progress have you made?"

"Sir, we have successfully cracked the code to their 'cook-books', as they call them, and we have almost deciphered the methods they used to butcher our people last year. The head must be cut off along with the feet, it must be drained, and the outer coat removed – strange, these loosely-attached furs that the humans seem to be able to change almost at whim. We have found several methods they use for the fire-torture which we will have to decide upon; strangely enough, they wait until the victim is dead to initiate this. Do you think we should start with the fire-torture instead or-"

"No, lieutenant. We have done this to bring their sins back upon them, and we will do it in their fashion. We will decide how to use the fire, but in the meantime it sounds like the human needs to be prepared. Let us begin!" With that, the turkeys gave a big war-hoot and began to move.

Thomas listened to the turkeys with mounting fear and awe. He couldn't make out their language, but he was able to tell the leader apart by the face and the way that he carried himself around the others. The apple in the mouth was a symbol of what's for dinner; are these turkeys really going to cook and eat him? These were no ordinary birds; they were clearly intelligent enough to capture and tie him with some malevolent plant, so they could very well eat people. As these thoughts passed through his head, the turkeys gave a loud gobble and his fear intensified in knowing they were ready to act. The turkeys approached him, and he began to squirm and struggle against the ropes that tied him, but they were firmly tied; at any rate, two turkeys immediately rushed to him and held him down. The leader approached him from the front, and Thomas noticed his wing wrapped around something shiny. When he realized the shiny thing was a large cleaver, fear bolted straight to panic and he struggled even harder, but he had nowhere to go. The leader stepped to the side, gobbled quietly and briskly, and raised the cleaver. Intense panic overcame Thomas, and his vision began to blur, then faded to darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

Thomas gasped and bolted upright. He found himself sitting on a soft platform in a dark room that he couldn't recognize at first; however, as the panic he felt began to die down, the room began to look familiar, and an instant later he recognized where he was. He was sitting on his bed, inside his bedroom; it was Thanksgiving night, and he had fallen soundly asleep earlier after eating a gigantic meal at the Thanksgiving dinner party his parents held for his uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents; he had just awoken from one of the worst nightmares ever to plague him. As his breathing started to get under control, he closed his eyes and lay back down, his mind dwelling on the dream and the message he could find from it. After a couple moments he realized the most important thing to take away from this experience. It had to have been Uncle Roger's famous Horseradish-Jalapeno cheese ball that caused him to have such a wild dream. He'll have to give that a pass next year.


End file.
